Haunted Holidays
by Ranger Hitomi
Summary: Dazuru, Hajime, and Hitomi decide that a trip to Almia Castle would be a good start to the holidays. Unfortunately, they're not the only ones who think so.


_Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or anything associated with it. Japanese names used because I like them better.  
Pairing(s): Some fluffy Almiashipping (Hajime x Hitomi) because it is awesome._

**Haunted Holidays**

He was trapped in a castle encased in ice with a broken Styler, a small, half-eaten bag of trail mix, one book of matches, and a handful of dryer lint that had somehow ended up in his pocket and not the lint filter. To make matters worse, he had become separated not only from his fellow Top Rangers, but also from his partner Pachirisu. As the icing on the frozen cake that was his experience in this godforsaken place, he was pretty sure he had sprained his ankle falling through the ice that somehow passed as a walkway two floors above, and had definitely broken a few ribs hitting the countertop. (Someone needed to tell the landlord to fix that walkway.)

How this continued happening to him, Hajime would never know.

His troubles began one particularly cold, snowy winter night. The Ranger Union was a cheery, brightly lit hub of activity. Colored lights were wrapped around the walls and desks as jazzy holiday music poured from the loudspeakers. Union Rangers who were done with patrols for the day were sipping hot chocolate as they socialized, while others were singing and dancing around the main floor as the secretaries watched with amused expressions.

But Dazuru was not satisfied just dancing around to celebrate the holidays. Dazuru wanted a memorable winter adventure, and he wanted to share it with his two best friends.

"Tomorrow's our first day off for the week, so we should go treasure hunting in Almia Castle!"

Hitomi's face had positively lit up at the prospect of a dangerous adventure. Her bright blue eyes sparkled as she readily and eagerly agreed. Her partner Pokémon, Pachirisu, who was perched on her shoulder, had chattered along in agreement. Hitomi grabbed Hajime's hands and, her trademark pigtails bouncing as she danced up and down in excitement, said, "Oh, Hajime, doesn't that sound _fun_?"

"No, that does not sound fun, it sounds like a _terrible_ idea," Hajime had wanted to say. "Almia Castle is dangerous. But you, Daz, clearly wouldn't know, because _I _was the one exploring it while _you_ were off getting yourself kidnapped in the middle of a desert temple."

But what he really said was something (more or less) along the lines of, "Okay, but that place is dangerous. We should really make sure we have enough supplies before we set off to go freeze to death in the middle of Almia's tundra."

Sometimes he hated himself.

So the next morning, Hajime had found himself in front of the ice-encrusted doors of Almia Castle. He stared up at the massive doors with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, wondering how he had managed to get him sucked into _yet another_ of Dazuru's bad ideas. He glanced at his partner Pachirisu, who glanced right back with a reluctant expression on its face. With a tremendous sigh, Hajime subconsciously tugged at the zipper on his parka and pushed open the door.

The entrance hall was as uninviting as the last time Hajime had been there. The floor was encrusted in ice and the few pictures on the wall were glossed over with frost. The trio and their partner Pokémon walked slowly and silently through the hall, occasionally sliding on the ice. Finally, they ascended the ice-encrusted staircase that led out of the frozen wasteland that was the entrance hall – and into the frozen wasteland that, once upon a time, had passed as a dining room. The cracked china plates and crystal goblets set atop the long table were familiar to Hajime, but the fresh flower arrangements and lit candles evenly spaced on top of it were not.

"It's _freezing_ in here," Hitomi said, tightening her scarf around her neck as she examined the broken dishware on the table. Neither she nor Dazuru, who was now examining a large, frost-covered portrait hanging on the wall, seemed to notice that something was amiss.

"I think… someone else is here," he said after a moment of silence.

"What?" Dazuru said from across the room.

Hajime pointed at the flora on the table. "Those plants only grow in one place in Almia, and that place is Union Road."

The three Rangers looked at one another.

"Maybe we should go," Hajime said nervously.

Dazuru looked outraged. "Go? This only makes it more fun, isn't that right, Buizel?"

His partner Pokémon nodded vigorously. "Bui!"

"Look," Hajime said as evenly as he could, "You've never been here before. I have. Last time I was here, Team Yamiyami was also here, and they tried to kill me. I have no desire to be almost killed again."

"But Team Yamiyami _isn't_ here!" Dazuru insisted. "We got rid of them, remember?"

"Team Yamiyami wasn't the only thing trying to kill me!" Hajime said in exasperation. "There are all sorts of dangerous wild ice Pokémon here, not to mention-"

"Ghosts?" Hitomi said timidly.

"Yeah, and gh-"

He and Dazuru turned to look at her.

Hovering behind a clearly terrified Hitomi with a large grin on its face was a Haunter. One of its clawlike hands was gripping her right arm, specifically, her Vatonage Styler, as the other was grasping her head, holding it still.

Hitomi's eyes darted to her Styler. "It's draining my energy gauge," she said in a soft voice so as not to alarm the ghost. "You guys need to do something quick before it breaks."

Hajime had dealt with many ghost Pokémon in the past, but never had he experienced trying to free one of his best friends from one without hurting her. If he used his Styler, he would startle the Haunter and it might harm Hitomi. But… something at the back of his mind was nagging him…

As Hajime stood there helplessly, Dazuru decided to take the situation into his own hands. He picked up a goblet from the table and threw it against the wall on the far side of the room. The goblet shattered. Haunter released Hitomi in surprise as it turned to Dazuru, glaring furiously. Dazuru picked up a second goblet and dangled it tauntingly.

"Move away slowly, Hitomi," Dazuru instructed calmly. "I think I may have angered it."

Hitomi followed his instructions, but it appeared that the Haunter was not interested in her anymore. It focused its gaze on Dazuru, who now looked nervous.

"What now?" Hajime said incredulously. "Now it's just going to suck _your_ life energy."

"Yeah, I didn't really think that far ahead," Dazuru said, taking large steps backward as the Haunter drifted slowly toward him. "I feel like running would be the appropriate thing to do at this point but I don't think I can outrun a ghost."

_What can we do? _Hajime weighed the options. The exit they came from was a no-go – they would first have to capture Empoleon or Staraptor to help them get across Ice Lake again, and that would be a difficult task while being chased by a Haunter. No, they had to calm the Haunter down first… _Oh duh, Hajime, you're a freaking Top Ranger._

"Dazuru, when I give the signal, run to the exit on the other side of the room," Hajime said. "If you run the way you're headed now, it's a dead end."

"Okay, but what's the signal?"

Hajime grabbed the Styler on his arm and squeezed, releasing the Capture Disc. He began drawing loops through the air with his fingers as the Disc encircled Haunter… but Haunter clearly was adverse to the idea of being captured. It released a wave of dark energy that knocked the Disc away.

Now Haunter turned to Hajime.

"Well, that didn't work so well," Hajime said uneasily.

Haunter released another wave of energy, this time directed at Hajime. Using the reflexes gained from years of intensive Ranger training, he nimbly leapt out of the way.

Unfortunately, he forgot that there were patches of ice on the floor. He slid on a particularly large patch and slid headfirst under the table as Haunter let off another attack.

"Pachirisu, with me!" Hajime yelled as china shattered above him. "Daz, Hitomi, split up! It can't chase three of us at once!" He scrambled out from under the table and ran for the staircase, sliding on ice as he went, Pachirisu following close behind.

"Hajime-" Hitomi started running after him, but Dazuru grabbed her arm. "He knows what he's doing. He's buying us time to figure out how to calm that thing down, so let's go work out-"

The words were barely out of his mouth before a second Haunter materialized in front of the two.

Dazuru cringed. "Oh, fu-"

Hitomi pushed him out of the way as the new Haunter hurled a Shadow Ball at them. The attack missed the intended target – Dazuru – hitting Hitomi instead, which sent her sliding across the slick floor into the wall near the staircase Hajime had ascended only moments before. Her Pachirisu hurried over to her.

"Oh… oh ow," Hitomi whimpered, rubbing her head. She glanced at her Styler. _Only two energy bars left? _she thought with a feeling of dread. _This is bad. That Haunter drained more energy than I thought… or this Haunter's attack was mostly absorbed by the Styler… Or both. _

"Pachi…" Pachirisu tittered worriedly, rubbing Hitomi's arm.

She smiled at her partner. "I'm all right." She pulled herself up and glanced over at the stairway. "Daz, Hajime doesn't have a Capture Disc. He's pretty much useless without one, so I'm going after him. I'm declaring this an emergency mission."

Dazuru nodded at her and climbed to his feet, facing the Haunter. "Okay, you know what? I've had it with you things. You're ruining my holiday _and_ you're trying to kill us. Buizel," he said, gesturing dramatically with his Styler, "I think it's time for a Poké Assist."

At that exact moment, there was a loud shattering sound coming from upstairs, a yell, and a distant crash.

Hitomi didn't wait around to see the outcome of the battle between Dazuru and Haunter. She had to save Hajime.

---

Hajime heard the crash downstairs that indicated that Hitomi and Dazuru were likely in danger, but he had problems of his own to worry about, namely the fact that Haunter was still trying to hit him with its Shadow Ball attacks.

That and he had forgotten that the entire third floor of the castle was essentially a walkway… made of ice.

Times like this made him wish he had actually taken the ice skating lessons at the Academy seriously.

Hajime managed to avoid one… two… three hits by wildly sliding around, barely avoiding falling off the side each time. After the third miss, the only thing that kept Hajime from flying off the side was that he had managed to grab onto a giant spear of ice that he was pretty sure had almost _impaled_ him on his last visit.

_Gods_, he hated this place.

"Pachirisu!" Hajime yelled. "Do you have a spare Capture Disc?"

His partner was having an easier time maneuvering the ice than Hajime was, and had already reached the landing on the other side. It shook its head helplessly.

"What?" Hajime yelped. "Why?"

"Pa pachi!"

"Oh, that's just gr-" Hajime began before Haunter launched another attack. This time, with Hajime holding desperately to the pillar, it hit its mark.

The good news for Hajime was that his Styler managed to absorb most of the energy from the attack.

The bad news was that the remnants of the attack had shattered the pillar he had been clutching – and that the force of the attack sent Hajime sliding backward – right over the edge of the walkway. He let out a loud scream as he fell – ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five, thirty –

He slammed into a hard surface. He felt something shatter beneath his weight and a sickening crunching sound as he bounced like a rag doll from the surface to the floor, landing with a final thud on his back. He panicked momentarily as he realized not only that he could not see, but also that the wind had been completely knocked out of him, and so he could not breathe.

After a few seconds, he finally managed to draw some air into his lungs, though his body was still numb. His hazy vision began to clear, and he finally managed to see where he had ended up.

The surface he had smashed into was a countertop, and the shattering sound he had felt appeared to have been a stack of plates that had been set on it. With his limited scope, he saw an ancient wood-burning stove and an ice-encrusted sideboard, and realized where he was.

This was the dead end Hajime had warned Dazuru about. The kitchen.

Then the initial numbness he felt from the shock subsided and he realized what the crunching sounds he had felt when he had hit the counter had been.

His ribs.

Hajime had never felt pain like it before. The closest he could remember to ever having been in that much pain was when he broke his collarbone doing a long jump in grade school gym class – but even then, it had not hurt so much as it was uncomfortable.

_This _– this was painful.

He rolled himself over onto his side and let out an involuntary moan of pain. In addition to his ribs, his ankle was throbbing. And to top it all off, as he struggled to push himself to a sitting position, he finally saw what had become of his beloved Vatonage Styler.

It was broken.

Not just depleted of energy, but genuinely _broken_ – the release slot had cracked, wires were sticking out of the cracks – and he had no idea how to fix it. He initially couldn't even figure out how it had _happened_, but then reasoned that it probably happened on his fall, in conjunction with the massive attack he had taken at point-blank range right before he fell.

Then he heard it.

_Hajime._

It was faint, but there. He could hear Hitomi calling his name.

"I'm in the kitchen on the second floor off the dining room," Hajime tried to call back, but his voice came out as barely more than a whisper. He wanted so desperately to tell her where he was. He simply didn't have the energy to yell.

With great energy, he managed to sit up, then immediately wished he hadn't. Resisting the urge to lie back down, Hajime held his Styler close to his face and attempted to operate the Voicemail function. To his dismay, the device was completely nonresponsive. He gingerly reached into his pockets and pulled out a book of matches, a half-eaten bag of trail mix, and, for some reason that he could not explain, a handful of dryer lint. With a sigh of frustration, he leaned his head back against the counter and closed his eyes.

So there he was in the coldest and most dismal place in Almia with broken ribs and a sprained ankle, little food, little way to warm himself. He was a Ranger without a Styler, without a partner, without his fellow Rangers. He had no way of communicating with them. He was in more pain than he ever could have imagined possible.

As if his current troubles weren't bad enough, he heard a sound. It was the soft rustling of wings – and only one Pokémon native to Almia Castle made that sound.

_No, no, no, go away_… Hajime thought desperately. His only consolation was that the counter he was leaning against was an island counter in the middle of the room, so the Scyther wasn't aware that he was there – yet.

He struggled to control his sharp breaths, waiting for what seemed like hours but was probably only five minutes for the Scyther to either leave or find him and carve him up.

The Scyther peered around the counter and stared at Hajime with a confused expression, as if trying to figure out why there would be a human _here_, of all places. Hajime tried to look as nonthreatening as possible – which wasn't a very difficult task considering he probably _looked_ like he had just fallen thirty feet from a frozen walkway and hit a counter on the way down.

The Scyther either didn't realize that Hajime was already mortally wounded or it simply didn't care; either way, Hajime knew that unless a miracle happened within the next five seconds, he was very, very dead.

Fortunately for him, his miracle happened right as Scyther raised its scythe-like arm.

"Pachirisu, Poké Assist!"

Hajime squinted as the bright electricity shot through the air and struck the Scyther, stopping the Pokémon in its tracks.

Hajime watched with fascination as Hitomi performed the capture, her arms dancing in graceful arcs through the air. He had seen her capture before, of course, but there was something particularly _enchanting_ about it this time. Finally, with one sweeping gesture, she completed the capture. The now-calm Scyther wandered off and Hitomi rushed over to her friend, dropping to her knees next to him. Her Pachirisu bounded along next to her, and his was close behind.

"Oh Hajime, I'm so glad you're alive," Hitomi said, wrapping her arms around his neck, pulling his body toward hers.

A whimper of pain escaped him and she released him immediately. "Oh no, did I hurt you?"

Hajime smiled weakly. "No. No, I'm sorry. I'm just in a bit of pain right now… I think I've got some broken ribs and my ankle may be sprained." He looked over at his partner Pokémon. "Hey there, Pachirisu."

"Pachi," Pachirisu said worriedly.

Hitomi patted her pockets frantically. "My med kit… my med kit… Pachirisu, do you have it? Hajime, your Styler!" she said suddenly, her eyes widening as she grabbed his arm and examined the Styler attached to it. "What _happened_ to you?"

He put his hand on her arm gently and she released his arm. "Calm down, Hitomi. One thing at a time, and personally, I'd like to get my bones splinted for the time being."

"Of course, I'm sorry!" Hitomi said, looking back over at her Pachirisu. "My med kit?"

Pachirisu reached into its bag and pulled out a small box. Hitomi took it and peered through its contents, finally pulling out a roll of tape, a roll of bandages, a small pair of scissors, and a bottle of painkiller. She dumped a couple of painkillers into Hajime's hand. "You should take those to help the pain and the swelling. I don't have anything to drink, though, so you're going to have to take them dry."

Hajime obediently put the pills in his mouth and forced himself to swallow them. They were bitter, but he wasn't going to complain.

Hitomi held up the bandage roll and the tape. She looked embarrassed. "I… I have to take off your shirt… to properly bandage your ribs."

Hajime nodded. "Okay, do what you have to… but be quick, it's cold."

She looked around. "It is really cold… this would be easier if it were warmer… ah." Her eyes rested on the wood-burning stove. "That should work." She examined it carefully. "It's got some pretty dry dead wood in there right now, so I think… do you have any matches? And something to help get the fire started?"

Hajime carefully reached into his pocket and pulled out the matches and the wad of lint. She took them and nodded. "These should do it. Okay, watch the Top Ranger at work!"

As he watched her make the fire, he had a few questions he needed answered. "How did you find me? Why was that Haunter after us? Where's Daz?"

She laughed. "As Daz and I were trying to figure out how to help you, another Haunter appeared attacked us."

"What?"

Hitomi stepped back from the stove. A comfortable fire was now going in the stove, flooding Hajime's aching body with warmth. She didn't answer his question at first. She unzipped his parka and hesitated as she reached his shirt. Sensing her unwillingness to finish taking off his shirt, he clenched his teeth and slowly pulled the shirt over his head. With a deep breath, she began wrapping the bandages around his torso. The sharp pain returned, but he did not make a sound.

"Dazuru," Hitomi said as if there had been no interruption, "decided to capture the second Haunter using his Buizel's Poké Assist. So I decided to help you. But as I was heading up the stairs to come rescue you, I heard you scream and I heard something crash a distance away."

Hajime was not comforted by the fact that she could hear something like his body slamming against a countertop from that far away, but remained silent.

"Hold this for me while I tape it, would you?" Hitomi asked, tapping the bandage gently. "I'm not a professional so this is the best I could do…"

Hajime obliged. "So what did you do?"

"Well, when I got there, the Haunter was going after your partner. So I got its attention. It came at me instead, so I had your Pachirisu use a Poké Assist to paralyze the Haunter like I did the Scyther. Then I captured it." She cut the tape. "All done." She pulled off his boot and began wrapping his ankle.

Hajime pulled his shirt back over his body, wincing as she tightened the splint on his ankle. Despite how uncomfortable it may have been, the quick first aid had definitely helped make it less painful. "Thank you, Hitomi."

Hitomi was too busy taping up his ankle to respond right away. "Mm-hmm." She cut the tape and helped him put his foot back in the boot. She glanced at his Styler and frowned. "This won't do. Professor Shinbara will be furious if you come back with your Styler looking like _that._" She grabbed a screwdriver from her belt and grabbed Hajime's hand, determined to fix the Styler. He grabbed her by the hand in return.

"No, Hitomi, I mean it… thank you. You don't know how much I appreciate you just _being _here with me. I was only alone for maybe fifteen minutes and it was the most terrible thing… I just wanted someone to be with me. That's all I wanted."

Her blue eyes and his green ones met.

"Hajime…" Hitomi said softly. She smiled and tightened her grip on his hand. "I'm glad that I got to spend part of my holiday with you, even if it was a near-death experience."

Hajime laughed. "Hitomi, I wouldn't trade my near-death experiences with you two for anything."

At that moment, the door burst open, and a tired and disheveled Dazuru dragged himself through it. Hitomi pulled her hand away and returned to fixing the Styler.

"That was unbelievable," Dazuru said grumpily. "Finally managed to get rid of the Haunter by capturing it, then I go trying to find you two and almost get fried by a Ninetales. Why the heck didn't you tell me where you were?"

Hitomi cringed. "I… forgot about that."

Dazuru threw up his hands. "You _forgot_? I believe that was the plan, yes? 'Go that way and try to find Hajime and I'll go this way, don't worry, I'll call you if I find him'? What happened to calling me?"

Hitomi shrugged apologetically. "Sorry."

Dazuru plopped himself down next to Hajime. "Oh well. Hey, you look terrible, what happened?"

"Long story," Hajime said. "So you captured the Haunter? Do you know why they were so aggravated?"

"As a matter of fact, I do," Dazuru said proudly. "You see, they wanted us to be part of their holiday feast. Meaning, we were the feast."

"And the flowers on the table?" Hitomi pressed.

"According to my Browser, they like to 'entertain' people before sucking the life out of them," Dazuru said as if he were discussing the weather. "I guess the flowers were there to make death seem more appealing."

His two friends stared at him. Hajime then realized that the nagging feeling he had experienced when they had entered the room was his mind's way of trying to convey that very same Browser information.

"Then why didn't the Haunter suck my life energy when it had me in its grasp?" Hitomi wondered.

Dazuru shrugged. "Probably wanted to wait for its buddies to share you." He yawned. "I'm tired. Hey, we can leave if you want now."

Hajime looked over at Hitomi, then at the two Pachirisu curled up on the floor in front of the fire, then over at Dazuru. "You know… I just want to be with my best friends for a while before heading home. Let's enjoy the holidays… together."

**Fin**


End file.
